The present invention relates to an engine control apparatus including such that, when a lock plate is disengaged from a stop switch knob, the stop switch is turned on to allow an engine of a small motorboat or the like to stop or to be in an idling state.
A small motorboat is made to glide over water while taking a sharp turn or jumping so that an operator can enjoy a ride. This frequently causes the operator to fall into water. Due to this reason, it is required to, when the operator falls into water, stop the engine to prevent only the small motorboat from further progressing. Thus, a small motorboat is generally provided with a stop switch for allowing, when the operator falls into water, the engine to stop or to be in an idling state.
Specifically, a handle bar of the small motorboat is fixed with a switch case. The switch case has a stop switch knob for activating a stop switch of an insertable resin-made lock plate that has the base end a tightened wire. The tip end of the wire is fixed to the wrist or the like of the operator so that, when the operator falls into water, the lock plate is disengaged from the stop switch knob to turn on the stop switch, thereby allowing the engine of the small motorboat to stop or to be in an idling state.
As described above, the lock plate is inserted around the stop switch knob to allow the engine to start. This causes a situation where, when another lock plate of a smaller motorboat or a plate member having a similar shape is inserted, a third party can start the engine without the owner's permission. In order to prevent such a situation, which can result in the motorboat being stolen, a conventional technique (as disclosed in Patent reference 1 (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-88789), for example) proposes a control section in which a transponder incorporating an ID code is embedded in a lock plate and having inside the switch case an antenna that can receive the ID code so that the engine is controlled based on the received information.
The above conventional engine control apparatus is such that the ID code of the transponder is transmitted via radio transmission to the antenna and the received information is transmitted to the control section so that the engine is started only when a previously registered regular ID code and the received ID code coincide. When the former is different from the latter, the engine is not started. This can start the small motorboat only when the regular lock plate is inserted to the stop switch knob and thus can prevent the boat from being stolen.
However, the above conventional engine control apparatus includes such that the engine is not started when the a previously registered regular ID code by the control section is different from the received ID code. This causes an inconvenience as described below, although the boat can be prevented from being stolen.
Specifically, when the engine of the small motorboat, or other vehicle, capable of running at a high speed is set suitable for a beginner, then such a setting is not sufficient for an experienced user, although such a high-speed boat causes a danger to a beginner unaccustomed to handling the boat. In such a case, a switch, or similar mechanism, may be provided in the small motorboat for switching between an experienced user mode and a beginner mode. However, this requires the operator to use the switch to change the mode before running, thus causing the operation to be complicated.